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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Recognition of Juneteenth, the effective end of slavery in the U.S., gained traction after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. But after an initial burst of action, the movement to have it recognized as an official holiday in the states has largely stalled. Although almost every state recognizes Juneteenth […]

Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins watched a televised interview on Friday of Tyre Nichols’ mother speaking about the loss of her son, and lost control of his emotions. “I cried,” Jenkins said. The outrage, frustration, sadness and anger was evident around the NBA on Friday, the day that video was released showing how Nichols, a 29-year-old […]

DENVER (AP) — Colorado teachers flooded into the state Capitol Friday to press for better protections for students and school staff after a 17-year-old Denver student shot two administrators, fled to the mountains and killed himself. Roughly 1,500 teachers and their supporters called for improved school security, more mental health support and tighter gun control […]

NEW YORK (AP) — It was small, as Washington celebrations go — two senior Biden administration advisers gathered with program participants near the White House on a Thursday afternoon in December to mark the end of a little-known initiative with a budget of less than $8 million. The impact of The Community Violence Intervention Collaborative […]

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Prosecutors sought Tuesday to portray as racist a U.S. Army sergeant who fatally shot an armed man during a Black Lives Matter protest in Texas, saying he was hostile toward social justice causes and looking for trouble before the encounter. Daniel Perry’s two day-sentencing hearing began with the introduction of dozens […]

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fresh off of a record year for violence in Memphis, a community is relying on its faith along with the support of three families to further the message of ending the violence. “We’re here to stomp this out Memphis,” Jacob Blake Sr. said. “We’re here to walk this out Memphis.” In an […]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Keith Ellison gave up a safe seat in Congress to run for Minnesota attorney general, saying it was his best chance to push back against the policies of Donald Trump. Now locked in a tough reelection fight, he’s arguing that he’s been far less of a partisan warrior than his critics claim. […]

Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), the lead Senate Republican negotiator on police reform, on Monday signaled he’s willing to have another go at the tough issue in the wake of Tyre Nichols’s death at the hands of Memphis police, while criticizing Democrats for blocking his reform bill in 2020 for not going far enough. Scott pushed […]

NEW YORK (AP) — The Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded Monday to two class-conscious novels: “Demon Copperhead,” Barbara Kingsolver’s modern recasting of the Dickens classic “David Copperfield,” and Hernan Diaz’s “Trust,” an innovative narrative of wealth and deceit set in 1920s New York. It’s the first time the Pulitzers have awarded two fiction books […]

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Irvo Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man whose death last month at a Virginia mental hospital has sparked outrage and led to second-degree murder charges against 10 defendants, died of “positional and mechanical asphyxia with restraints,” a medical examiner’s office said Monday. Arkuie Williams, the administrative deputy in the state Office of […]

From explosive testimony to damning convictions, there were significantly influential court cases that helped produce some of 2022’s biggest stories.